Konane

Konane is a two-player abstract strategy game from Hawaii. It was invented by the ancient Hawaiian Polynesians. In the beginning of the game, the pieces are laid out on the board in an alternating pattern of black and white. Players then hop over one another's pieces capturing them similar to draughts. The first player who can no longer make a capture is the loser, and the other player is the winner. In ancient times, the pieces used were black and white lava stones played over a large rock which doubled as a board and table. The game is a distant relative of draughts. The main difference is that in draughts, one player's pieces are initially set up on one side of the board opposite the other player's pieces. In Konane, both players' pieces are intermixed in an alternating pattern of black and white that covers the whole board. Furthermore, in Konane all moves are capturing moves. Lastly, the goal of Konane is to avoid being the first player who can no longer make a move, whereas in draughts, the goal is to capture all of the opponent's pieces. Konane's closest relative are Leap Frog (board game) and Tjuki, and these games form a family of their own.

Goal

The first player unable to capture an enemy piece is the loser, and the other player is the winner. There are no draws in this game.

Equipment

The game is played on a n x n square board where "n must be an even number". For example, the game could be played on a 8 x 8 square board such as a checker or chess board. Please note though that a board is not actually needed to play this game. Pieces can be laid out in the beginning of the game in an alternating pattern of two colors on top of a table, on the ground, or any flat surface. Furthermore, the game is unrestricted in size, so it is impossible to have just one board for all sizes of games.

The number of pieces needed is n². For example, a game played on a 8 x 8 square board, the total number of pieces needed is 8² = 64. Half of which are black pieces (32 pieces), and the other half are white pieces (32 pieces) laid out on the board in an alternating pattern.

Rules and Game Play

1. The game begins with all the pieces on the board (or table, ground, etc.) arranged in an alternating pattern.

2. Players decide which colors to play (black or white).

3. Black traditionally starts firsts, and must remove one of its pieces from the "middle of the board", or from one of the four corners.

There are 4 pieces (2 black and 2 white) that form a 2 x 2 square array in the "middle of the board". Black can either remove one of those two black pieces, or remove a black piece from one of the four corners of the board. The four corners will consist of two black pieces and two white pieces that are diagonally opposite from each other.

4. White then removes one of its pieces orthogonally adjacent to the empty space created by Black. There are now two adjacent empty spaces on the board.

5. All moves from here on must be capturing moves, and only one piece is used to capture per turn. Players alternate their turns.

6. Captures can be done only orthogonally, and not diagonally.

7. As in draughts, a capture is accomplished by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece, and landing on an empty space on the other side. Captured pieces are removed from the board.

8. Multiple captures can be done as long it is "in the same direction". Furthermore, a player can decide how many pieces to capture, but at least one enemy piece must be captured.

9. The player that can no longer make a capture is the loser, and the other player is the winner.

Analysis

As described above, Konane is played on an n x n square board where "n must be an even number". This is important, because an even number assures two things: Firstly, since the board is laid out initially in an alternating pattern of black and white, the board will then have an "equal number" of black and white pieces. A fair game consist of an equal number of both players' pieces on the board. Secondly, an alternating pattern will always yield two black pieces on two opposite corners of the board, and likewise, two white pieces on the other two opposite corners of the board. This assures that Black "has the option" of removing a black piece from one of the four corners since Black traditionally starts first.

Related Games

* Leap Frog (board game)
* Tjuki

External links

*http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8122
*http://www.k12.hi.us/~gkaapuni/konane.htm
*http://cs.brynmawr.edu/Theses/Thompson.pdf